Just A Crumpled Pile Of Hunt
by Suicidal-Emo-Bunny
Summary: Episode 5 Series 1 What if Gene really did get shot? What if the hip flask didn't save him?


_2 o'clock…._

_2… o'clock…_

That stupid bstard. I thought that the escape attempt would be a good idea. The Guv, low carbs. It was a stupid idea, but at the time it was the only one we could come up with. What with the Guv drooling (oh, sorry, arguing) with Jackie, it was amazing that he would even turn his head to face me, let alone talk to me. It turned out to be a complete disaster and ended in tragedy which still hasn't ended. 

The bullet was meant for me, not for him. Reg was a total prat at shooting. We just assumed that he'd been in a couple of wars, wanted to be a hero, things like that. Never presumed that it'd end like this. Who would've known that he worked there? Well, he took us all out of the cupboard after reliving some amazingly joyful life experiences (yes, very joyful indeed) and I was forced to kneel on the floor, powerless and about to have my brains blown out by the hostage taker. Me there, crying, Annie crying, the Guv trying to keep his cool,

_When you're done with him, you'd better turn on me quick Cole, or I'll kill you._

The one man I blame for what happened, apart from myself, was Litton. He and his henchmen barged into the room without a second thought threatening to shoot Reg, ruining the whole of our operation, and that's when the whole of this happened.

The Guv kicked Litton to the floor 'saving his life' as he called it, but I just knew that Gene had been dying to do that for ages. I could see the smile beam across his face just before the shot was fired. He fell to the floor, Annie rushing over, Ray and Chris dropping down to the floor.

"Guv?" Chris asked, his timid voice breaking the cool chill in the air. "Someone call an ambulance, now!" I just stood there, not taking my eyes off of the pool of blood on the floor. He'd shot him. The bstard hostage taker had shot him. Litton poked his head up from behind Ray, grinning to himself as Reg was being arrested. I snarled, baring my teeth as Litton waltzed past me. He didn't care, the Guv had just had a huge hole blown in his chest and all Litton could do was smirk about his arrest. I grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and swept him in front of my face, still snarling, fire burning in my eyes.

"Is that all you care about? Your fuckin' arrest. You tell everyone how great he was," I could feel tears welling up behind my eyes. "You tell them that." I could feel my hands shaking, looking into his eyes, but they showed no signs of care, nothing, they were just hollow shells. He smirked again, pushing my hands away and grabbing hold of Reg's jacket. 

"Come on…" he slithered, stepping over Gene's body. "Au Revoir." I felt my feet start to free themselves from the ground, and so I ran, I ran to the crumpled pile of Gene on the floor, the blood still seeping out of his chest wound. 

"Guv…" I spurted, holding my hand out to feel his pulse. Weak. "Guv, don't you do this… it's not funny you know." I tried to lift everyone's spirits high than mine were; I'd caused a few smiles, but nothing too drastic. I couldn't help but stare, there was nothing else to do, just stare and wait, wait for the doctors to come and whisk him away, maybe to good health, maybe to his death bed. No, no, I couldn't think about that. The Guv's a fighter; no way he'd give up that easily, not without a fight. I smiled to myself through tears, my face darkened, hidden by shadows, 

He's a fighter…

-

The beeps from the hospital were too real. I know I hear them all the time, but compared to this, it was like hearing them through a tunnel. A very long one. _Jchan_: Dat's hinting at the last episode… very long tunnel? The shooty scene? AHA, it's not in this 'cause…well… there's reasons…

Now I know what pain my friends are going through, seeing me in a coma. Gene just sort of lay there, tubes and wires sticking out of him. Everyone was here earlier, Ray, Annie, Chris, even Phyllis popped in, but I was the only one that stayed, ignoring the nurse's orders for me to leave, I just couldn't. It was all my fault he was in this mess, and hell, even if it killed me, I would get him out of it. I can't help myself but to go to Reg's court case in the morning. It was too good to be true; I just wanted to be there when he went down for life. The gentle beeps of the hospital equipment were beginning to lull me into a deep sense of relaxation and the last thing I remembered was my life monitor in tune with Gene's. In harmony.

-

Nightmares. Screams, shouts. They were calling my name. The long tunnel, the blinding light. It was all happening again and yet, there was something missing. The Guv. He wasn't running towards me calling my name in the usual fearful way he used to. Not anymore. Not ever. The fear was just noise in my ears now, just distant noise, and it would never be the same again.

-

The trail went the way it was planned. I sat in the back row, looking like Scar from the Lion King, a giant scratch across my eye. I'd like to say it suited me, my soul had become adrift, I felt, as Reg said, _like a villain. _It was abnormal for me to be like this, but I suppose it's all anyone can do in these circumstances. Reg was sent down for life, but he didn't deserve that, not just that. He deserve more than that. 

"How's he doing?" Annie asked me, rubbing my shoulder as I left the court room, decrepit and seething. I shook her off, keeping my eyes fixed to the floor.

"Fine, so far. I'm not sure what's going to happen." 

"We've got a temporary DCI. Frank Morgan." I lifted my head at the shock of this. Another DCI? The superiors probably thought of Gene as already dead, so they're sending in his replacement already.

"We don't need a replacement," I commented. "He'll be back before pub opening time, you just watch." But I was out of the building before Annie could utter another word. Not going home, but going back to the hospital. I couldn't just leave him there on his own. Behind my back, people were probably calling me obsessive, a freak (hell, like they didn't think that already?). I don't care. I just can't have another failure. Not like me. 

-

"Sam?" I could hear my name, but I was too groggy to even answer. The voice repeated again, and but now I knew exactly who had said it. I was asleep, dreaming, but I quickly shot up, the darkness of the hospital room finally getting to me. I was hearing things. Although it wasn't abnormal for me to hear other things, it was just strange that it was the Guv's voice over everything else. The machines began to come back to life in my head again, the Guv's life support, beeping faster than normal. "Sam…" I started back, sitting straight upright. Did the Guv just say my name? He couldn't have, he's in a coma. "I'm not dead yet you know, I can still talk." I couldn't believe it, waking up after having fatal accidents really were possible.

"Guv," I smiled, a tear rolling down my cheek. "I didn't know who'd spoke, I mean, you're still on life support an' all."

"Listen to me Sam." Gene's voice was hard and cut through the crisp air. I leaned forward towards him.

"What?"

"I may not be able to fight for much longer. I know someone's coming to replace me. Well, they're not going to be better than me, that's a fact, but it's the police's job to keep someone in charge. I- I don't want you to resent him, even _if _he's taking my place." I stared at the Guv in shock.

"Listen, don't say things like that, you're-"

"I'm saying this because I know it's the truth Sam. Even though you're a pain in the arse, you come up with great ideas, don't throw that away even if I'm gone." Then the Guv said something I thought he'd never say. "Thankyou Sam." 

The low monotonous beep from the life support had suddenly become faster and louder, increasing in speed over and over again. I did the only thing one does in that situation, I ran. I ran for the nearest nurse, doctor, anyone that could help. I called down the corridor and ran, ran as fast as I could, letting my legs carry me through the hospital until I found someone, a doctor, the only doctor, it seemed, in the entire hospital. I grabbed his arm tightly and sent him reeling towards the door of the Guv's room. His face showed a mixture of surprise and anger, but he heard the beeps and immediately ran into the room, flicking the light switch and doing everything he could to help. 

Over the minutes that I stood outside, nurses and other doctors ran into the room to try and revive Gene. There was no point in doing anything, and I felt tears trickle down my face as I came to realise that he was gone. Forever. There was no way he'd be able to blast himself out of this one. The medical staff finally gave up hope, skulking past me, almost ignoring me completely. Another tear fell to the floor around me, I couldn't help it, he was my friend.

I finally awoke from the coma, went back to work. I always thought of the fact that I could go back, just, go into another coma, try anyway, but I never wanted to go back, not after what happened. The team sort of dispersed after the Guv's death. It was all a bit strange really, and then after everyone left, I woke up, and everything seemed fine again. I just had a huge hole in my heart to fill. Nelson had said to me before I left:

_You know when you're alive, 'cause you can feel. You know when you're not alive, 'cause you can't feel. _

I knew I wasn't alive. I couldn't feel a thing. But I've been dead for many years, so there wasn't much difference. 

-

The front doorbell began to ring. My new flat, clean and organised, nothing like my one back in 1973. I missed the flat, I kind of missed the era, and I just couldn't get used to the rules of policing back in 2007. I wandered over to the door, not really caring who was on the other side. 

"Hello Sam," the man said, a huge grin sliding across his face. My mind couldn't take it and I keeled over backwards. The man just smiled to himself again.

"Just like old times, eh?" Gene Hunt said. 


End file.
